Well, baseball is as officially back as it can get, as the Yankees opened up the season at the Stadium on Thursday, and beat the Tigers 6-3. Sorry for not posting a recap, I was busy (what else is new). But today the Yanks took the field for game 2 of 162, and the Yankees once again defeated Detroit 10-6, thanks to the Yankees’ powerful bats.
Of course the story that hovered around this game was A.J. Burnett. His first start of the 2011 season, Burnett hoped to get off on the right foot, after posting a 10-15 record with an ERA over 5 in 2010. And, for the most part, he wasn’t too bad. He went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits. Certainly better than the majority of his 2010 starts, that’s for sure.
But at the end of the day, the key to the Yankees’ win was offense, offense, and more offense. The Yankees lit up Brad Penny for 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings, highlighted by another three-run home run from Mark Teixeira. And yes, this is April, so no more joking about how his Opening Day performance was technically in March. Through two games, he’s finally having a hot start to his season. Hopefully he’ll keep it up.
After Penny left, the Bombers didn’t skip a beat, as in the 5th inning, catcher Russell Martin hit his first homer as a Yankee, a solo shot to right field off Brad Thomas. And in the 6th, a guy you’re probably more used to seeing go deep, went deep – Alex Rodriguez. He launched a solo shot as well, almost identical to Martin’s. Both shots were the players’ first homers of the season.
After A.J. left the game, Girardi turned his newly stacked bullpen. David Robertson pitched the 6th, and had no problems. Luis Ayala, who just barely made the roster out of Yankees camp, struggled a bit, allowing two runs in 2 innings. As did Boone Logan, who only got an out in the 9th before handing the ball to Mariano Rivera. But I can assure you Mo was flawless, for he quickly picked up the last two outs of the game for the save, to seal the Yanks’ 2nd win of the season.
All in all, a pretty good day for the Yankees. If Burnett can pitch somewhat like this all year long, even if it is only 5 or 6 innings, it would be great. The offense, like they did today, will be backing him up all the way. A.J. will make or break the Yanks’ 2011 campaign, so it’s good to see him get off on the right foot.
The Yankees will go for the sweep tomorrow night, with Phil Hughes going up against Max Scherzer. Game time 7:05pm. And only, on YES.
what happend to this blog. its always soo behind now. i used to be on here all the time, and now its my first time visiting in over 6 months
There are many reasons why this blog stopped being update:
a. I lost intrest in blogging at the beginning of the year, and now primarily make YouTube videos http://www.youtube.com/user/YankeesRunThisTown?feature=mhee
b. I have constant internet problems and cant’ get on my computer.
c. I started a new blog that Ill do more often:http://homeoftheyanks.blogspot.com/